SPORTS BRIEF

Agencies

SOCCER

Galaxy rally to hold Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur’s Gareth Bale and the Los Angeles Galaxy’s David Junior Lopes scored first-half goals as Spurs and the Galaxy played out a 1-1 draw in a friendly on Tuesday. Bale scored a brilliant 17th-minute header to give the English club the lead, but Brazilian defender Lopes scored from a pass by Hector Jimenez 11 minutes later to pull Los Angeles even. The Galaxy were without stars David Beckham, in London for the Olympics, and Landon Donovan, preparing for the MLS All-Star game against Chelsea. Tottenham, playing their first match of a three-game US tour, lost midfielder Rafael van der Vaart and fullback Kyle Walker to injury. Tottenham play against Liverpool in Baltimore, Maryland, on Saturday and against the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on Tuesday.

OLYMPICS

Watson gets singles berth

Britain’s Heather Watson won a place in the main draw of the Olympic women’s singles on Tuesday after Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko withdrew due to a right-knee injury. Bondarenko has not played since October last year because of the injury. Former US Open junior champion Watson was the first reserve in singles following her rise up the world rankings to No. 67 after reaching the third round at Wimbledon, where she lost to runner-up Agnieska Radwanksa of Poland. Watson is the third British woman in the London Olympics singles event, alongside Anne Keothavong and Elena Baltacha, and she is also playing in the women’s doubles with Laura Robson.

SOCCER

Pompey facing shutdown

The administrator of crisis-hit English side Portsmouth said the club would be shut down on Aug. 10 unless all senior players on the books accept compromise wage deals or agree to transfers before that date. British media reported on Wednesday that Trevor Birch revealed he would have “no option” but to liquidate the League One (third tier) club by that deadline if agreement was not reached with the seven remaining senior players. Both interested purchasers — former owner Balram Chainrai and the Portsmouth Supporters’ Trust — have stipulated that their attempts to complete a takeover were dependent upon settlements being reached with those high wage earners. “The facts are straightforward — under the terms of the offer for the club, the players have to leave and conclude compromise settlements,” joint administrator Birch told reporters.

OLYMPICS

Cops find arm, save the day

French police have saved the day for a long jumper planning to take part in the London Paralympics after the athlete had his prosthetic arm stolen by a pair of assailants, officials said on Tuesday. Arnaud Assoumani, who took gold in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing and set a new world record with a jump of 7.23m, was set upon on Saturday in the Paris suburb of Bobigny by two men who sprayed him with tear gas. They stole his scooter in which he had placed his prosthetic arm, the local town hall said in a statement, and added that without the arm he might not have been able to take part in the Games, but police in a nearby suburb arrested a man on Sunday who admitted to being one of the thieves. He led officers to a bush where he had discarded the arm, the statement said.

FOOTBALL

Penn State’s record voided

The governing body of US college sports refrained from delivering the “death penalty” to Penn State’s storied football program on Monday, but it effectively put it into a coma that will last half a decade or longer, college football experts said. “They don’t matter anymore after these sanctions today,” said Jed Donahue, owner of the Pennsylvania Sports Network and a radio sports talk host for 20 years. In an unprecedented rebuke to the university and its football program for failing to stop one-time assistant coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual abuse of children, the NCAA fined Penn State US$60 million to be used to fund a foundation to help victims of child sex abuse, voided 14 seasons of victories, slashed the number of football scholarships it may hand out and banned it from playing in post-season bowl games.